


Invisible

by Stormyflying22



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abuse, Blood, But still not evil i guess??, Ehh hes a bit ambiguous in morals, Eventual Fluff, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Morally Neutral Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Scars, Swearing, Swords, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, the dark sides are toxic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 17:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21612553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormyflying22/pseuds/Stormyflying22
Summary: Roman and Deceit act out a sword fight but things go bad. Snakey boi has a lot to hide and doesn't want to show some darker parts of the dark sides...But what if he's got no choice?(Its way less angsty than the tags make it look!! At least i hope so?)
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Deceit Sanders
Comments: 10
Kudos: 137





	1. It's only a flesh wound

Roman stepped back and raised his hand with an overly dramatic woosh. 

"Cease! You will not taint my dignity any longer, good man!" 

Deceit lifted his chin and smiled evily with just as much flair.

"Ah, and what is this dignity you speak of, sire?" 

Roman reeled back, trying not to smile at the quick comeback, and kept a somber gaze like he was just insulted beyond words. The two's swords clanged.

Noone really *got* Roman's theatrics the way Dee did. Roman would practice acting in his humble little theatre every week, and despite being the literal embodiment of imagination, he really didn't like not having someone to bounce of off. Patton was very supportive, but he just didn't understand the feel of a dramatic moment. They would be in the middle of a monologue, and he'd see Patton start to squeal when Roman got really into the words. It made Roman frustrated, but the worse part was that he couldn't resist smiling at Patton being all adorable and loving. That kind of vibe just didn't make for good theatrics. Logan was completley off the board. Roman had realized that during their third argument on plot holes and the correct era of Roman's props. Virgil was ok, but he didn't like acting a lot, and Roman's reassurances that you can't possibly have stage fright without an audience didn't help. 

Deceit was awesome. He was debatebly a better actor than even Roman, although Roman'd never admit it. Roman actually had a lot of fun with him, and he sometimes wished the rest of the gang could see how well their shows turned out. He knew he shouldn't ask about that for now, since the other light sides were still a little uneasy about Deceit, especially Virgil and Patton. Roman had learned to be cautious too about how Deceit says certain things, but somehow he felt like he trusted Dee more every day.

Roman started stepping back more and more, realizing he's lost focus. 

"Hiya!" 

He stabbed the air next to Dee's cape, and Deceit retreated in mock horror. Roman smiled with confidence and advanced, swiping at Dee's other side. 

"Fighting back now, are we?"

Deceit moved calmly like he just wanted to stroll backwards for a bit.  
Roman tried to turn his emerging smile into a smirk but failed. Deceit always "let" Roman win. He knew how much Roman cared about the victory of good over evil, so even in times when Dee was winning, he'd always trip up miraculously and be defeated. Roman didn't get it at first, but now he found it almost..sweet.

Roman picked up his sword and swiped at Deceit's weapon. He only realized too late that Dee wasn't ready. 

"OH FUCK FUCK SORRY- AH." 

Deceit waved a hand at Roman to calm him down and held his own shoulder with his other.

"No, its alright, It's just a graze." 

Roman dropped his sword and ran up to him, panicking.

"I knew we shouldn't have used real one's! You're bleeding!" 

Deceit waved again to bat him away and tried to calm him down.

"Princey! It's fine! Im ok. C'mon, it'll heal-"

He didn't get to finish before they were both teleported in the logical side's room. 

"Logan knows medicine stuff! He even has an office! Come on, we need you healed."

Deceit sighed and walked after him, defeated. Roman wasn't really to be reasoned with when he got panicky.

Logan's room was exactly how you'd expect it; clean and nice looking. There were shelves upon shelves of books and lab equipment, but the wierdest thing were the few handwritten books that lay on his desk.

"Yes. What is it?" Logan apeared, looking kind of taken off gaurd.

Roman hurried Deceit into a white looking room. The second Dee saw the glaring lights and medical equipment he hissed on instinct. 

"What's wrong?" Roman looked at him worriedly.

Logan hurried in and motioned for Deceit to sit on the bed, which he did with extreme loathing, snarling at the bed and everything around it. Logan lifted an eyebrow in confusion and calmly walked over to see the wound.

"Roman, you can leave now. I'll take care of it." 

Roman shifted uneasily, taking another worried glance towards Deceit before teleporting away.

Deceit still held his shoulder and sat stiffly, like he hated everything about what was happening. Logan looked at him uneasily and tried to asses the situation.

"Are you alright? Should I dim the lights?" 

Deceit didn't answer, so Logan did anyways.  
As soon as the light's dimmed the snake exhaled in relief.

"I *love* this whole aesthetic you've got going on..."

Logan was struck with confusion for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"Falsehood. You seem to not like it."

Deceit stared at him in annoyance before sighing again.  
"No."

Logan motioned to the wound. "Could I see it?"

Deceit looked at him wearily before giving up and letting go of his shoulder.  
Logan exhaled sharply when he saw it and dashed for his stuff.  
Deceit was always uneasy with medical stuff. It made him feel completely exposed and reliant on others. He was supposed to be good at self preservation, dammit.  
Logan turned back around only to find Deceit covering his wound again.

Logan raised an eyebrow.  
"I need to get to the scar to help you."

Deceit rolled his eyes and scowled.  
"C'mon. It's alright now. Roman was only worried because he was the one who did it. Just tell him I healed it already."

Logan looked at the covered wound and back up at Deceit again.  
"But...You didn't."

Deceit was actually ok with Logan most of the time. He liked debating Logan, and some of his ideas were pretty resonable, but the taking things literally part was sometimes just too frustrating to bear with.

"Fine. I can tell him. My impression of you is pretty good, you know?"  
He tried to prove this point but the pain made it really hard to focus on transformation.

Logan took Deceits arm and started talking in that warm way he learned from Patton.

"It's alright. I'll just look at it and apply something. You'll be out of here soon."

Deceit looked at him, a little confused, but eventually let go and let Logan pull it away. He didn't remember Logan being like this when they were both younger. It was wierd. But also kind of ok, he guessed.

Logan took some antibiotic and spread it over the scar. He looked over a little concerned at how Deceit was dealing, but the liar just sat still and showed no signs of pain. Logan really didn't understand the logic in hiding emotion when it was obvious that the whole procedure hurt. But then again, Deceit wasn't the logical one, was he? 

"Right. I need to bandage it now." Logan motioned to Dee's shirt.

Deceit let out a quiet hiss.  
"Im good. It's fine now." 

Logan almost huffed in annoyance, but he didn't want to push Deceit's trust.  
"Would you at least do it yourself later?" 

Deceit got up like the bed was on fire.  
"Sure."  
Then he disapeared.

Logan crossed his arms and frowned.  
There's no way he will. Logan started putting everything away. It should heal, though, he thought. All the sides had healing power's of sorts. It was just the large injuries that they needed a little help with.

Deceit appeared in his room and sat down, focusing hard. The searing pain did nothing to ground him. He stared at it intensely for a few more moments before falling back in defeat. It hurt to lay on his back, but he didn't care. 

"Stupid damn shoulder. Stupid freaking Logan."  
He hissed under his breath.  
He was so, so tired, and now the wound wasn't getting hidden. He just hoped noone would bother him over it again. He fell asleep like that and his room shifted slowly to hide him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im using my own experience with injures to write some of the stuff. What will happen now? You only have to wait ages to find out!!


	2. I will be there

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who's gonna check up on the snake?  
> ~cupcake time~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is a song title from the musical!  
> The bold means that what's meant is the opoosite.  
> The italics are for emphasis,  
> and the asterisks ** are for thoughts.  
> This was so nice to write~ I'll try to make them longer! I just like unraveling the plot too much Xp

Roman took another deep breath in and put his fist up. Then he let it drop again. He sighed, annoyed at none other than himself. Oh c'mon! It shouldn't be this hard. He didn't even really know _why_ he was nervous. He was never nervous! That was the dashing emo's job, not his. He gave himself the benefit of the doubt. *It's probably because he's a dark side. That's a little scary, right?* He wouldn't have ever dreamed of knocking on Virgil's door back when the anxious side was on this side of the mindscape. But then again, Roman never really knew Virgil before he became softer and (debatebly) friendlier. But Deceit was different somehow. Roman felt like he knew him, although Logan's annoying logic voice told him he couldn't ever really _know_ the literal embodiment of lying.

"Uuuuughhh."

Roman snapped out of thinking so hard and just raised his hand again to knock. Thinking hard wasn't really his style. He knocked quickly at first but softly when he thought it was too loud. Nothing happened. He stood for a while, awkwardly holding the tray in front of him and waiting. Not a single sound. He knocked again a little louder and waited. *Oh god. I've scared him off.* He stood a little longer. *Wait..but what if he's actually hurt?* The hum of static in the dark hallway filled him with dread. *What if he passed out from the unbearable pain and is now yelling from within his conscious for someone to come save him and it's all my fault and oh fu-* The doorknob turned easily, to his surprise, and he pushed it open just a crack. He was about to close it back and feel awful about invading someone's privacy when something golden caught his eye.

"The hell?"

He took a step in and stood there, bewildered. It was his room. It was his own damn room. There were the posters and the fainting couch and the golden portraits and the paints. He froze and stared at it all, dumbfounded. How the hell did he end up here? He threw a glance back outside the door, but just saw the moldy dark carpet and awful gloomy hallway again. *If this wasn't Deceit's room, then where...* He picked up a glittery paper from the desk that he remembered using before for a project. It was blank. He held it a little longer and rubbed it. The texture felt... _off._

"creaaak"

Roman spun around and held the tray close. There was a weird noise like the cracking of wood. He held up the glitter paper like a sword and stood in attack stance.

"Hey! Who are you! Show yourself!"

Everything was silent for a while before he saw more movement from the corner of his eye. He turned and it was gone. The prince walked slowly into the middle of the room and looked around, a little spooked.  
He felt the floorboards move from under him and tilt backwards. He nearly tripped, but stomped firmly on the ground and it stopped. Then they tilted forwards suddenly, causing him to lose balance and fall. He got up quickly, but not before he saw a desk flying straight at him.

"HEEEY!"

Roman put his hands up and blocked it, causing it to fall with a menacing clatter.

"WHO ARE YOU? STOP AT ONCE!"

Roman didn't have much time to think before he saw papers lift from everywhere and shoot directly into his direction. He stumbled backwards and ducked just in time. The papers floated gently down around him and he crouch walked backwards even more, touching the wall. *What the absolute f-* The couch started lifting slowly up into the air, as if with some effort. Roman desperately looked around for somewhere to run and saw  
a grey colored curtain at the edge of the wall. He ran towards it and launched himself into it into another room, before hearing the couch slam full force into the wall.

The new room looked nothing like his. It was a very dimly lit small living room painted in a subdued golden shade. There was a couch in the middle facing away from him and a tv. There were random books and papers littered over the floor, as well as what looked like folk masks of some kind nailed to the wall.

Deceit raised his head above the couch and gaped at him in surprise. He was wearing a t-shirt and no hat to cover his curls. Roman was used to the snake's elaborate black and yellow cape outfit. This was new.

"Wha-Roman?"

Roman jumped in shock and gestured wildly, still catching his breath.  
"Dee?? So this IS your room!"

He walked over to him and pointed again towards the curtains.  
"What the hell was that?"  
Deceit looked over where he pointed and looked back, confused.

"Someone launched a whole ass couch at me! An- and the floor boards moved, and I was in my own room!"

Deceit took a moment to understand.  
"Ooooh! That's the greeting room. It was there when I got here."  
He chuckled a little at the dishevelled look on the prince.  
"It keeps people away: A key component of self-preservation. I'm **definitely** in control of it."

Roman looked at the curtain and back at deceit. "Like a dungeon trap??"

Deceit laughed again and tried to stop. "Yeagh? I guess."

Roman smiled. He very rarely saw Deceit genuinely laugh.

"Ahh. Weird magic you've got around here."

Roman leaned on the couch with his elbows and took another scan of the room, still not believing he was actually here. Deceit's face threw him off balance and now he couldn't remember for the life of him why he even came.

Deceit looked over at the tray Roman was holding and puzzled over it. He decided not to ask.  
"How'd you get in, anyways?"

Roman took a pause and frowned, remembering that he did just barge in without waiting for an answer.  
"Umm-well, i knocked, but then the door just kind of pushed me in.."

Deceit didn't have to be Deceit for him to feel like that was a lie. It was barely a convincing half-truth. Dee nodded in agreement and held his amusement to himself. He didn't really care how Roman got in. He just wanted him to stay.

"How's your arm?"

Deceit looked down and stumbled a bit over his words. Deceit never stumbled over his words..At least, not before he started hanging out with the creative side. Roman's energy must have rubbed off on him or something.  
"It's-uh, all healed."

"Thats awesome! Sorry for er- you know, slicing it."

Deceit scoffed.  
"Yeah.. Definitely **wasn't** my fault for losing focus."

Roman held out the tray and started to vibrate with excitement, finally remembering.  
"Oh! Here!"

Deceit took it and uncovered the foil, revealing a dozen or so yellow glazed cupcakes with little green snakes on them. They were extremely wonky, missing some of their eyes, but still adorable. Deceit felt himself smile way wider than he liked to.

"To help you feel better! I got patton to make the dough but I decorated myself!"  
Roman rocked back and forth on his feet, his voice rising at least two octaves.

"No freaking way.." Deceit didn't really know how to respond. He didn't exactly get many gifts. "I **don't** love them."

They spent the next hour or so talking loudly about old plays and deciding finally on watching the Count of Monte Cristo musical and obliterating the cupcakes.

Deceit hung out with the rest of the dark sides like this sometimes in the ever-transforming shared living rooms that appeared on their side of the mind, but this felt completely different. This was chaotic, but in a good way. He could actually share what he was thinking ( A stupid thing to want as the embodiment of lies, if he was being honest ) without a fight breaking out or someone wrecking the tv. Deceit had started to realize that he actually felt safe most times when he was with the prince. That realization had come with the added discovery that he did not feel safe otherwise, which was a real bummer in general. Sometimes he wondered briefly what things were like on the other side of the mindscape. But only briefly. He wouldn't get to do much of anything over there. One thing the dark sides had that the others didn't was efficiency- and he wouldn't trade that for whatever "democracy" goes on over there.  
But he did wonder...

They were on the second hour of the movie, and Dee had started to blank out quietly, falling asleep and up again. Roman _did_ wake him up from a nap, which was a valuable thing over here, seeing as Sleep went out often and came back never. Still, he tried to stay awake and focus on Edmond Dantés and his actor's awesome singing voice. *the man I used to be...  
dreams I dared to dream..when love was all..the innocence of youth..  
like memories of truth..*

Roman was actually pretty invested in the movie. He'd never finished it before- the others were iffy on the whole premise, and Virgil had tried to watch it with him before dozing off 30 minutes in. He didn't blame him. The anxious side got up to a lot of stuff at night. Mainly hyperventilating and listening to music on high blast.

He felt something soft on his shoulder and looked down.  
*Aaand Dee fell asleep, too.* He looked back at the movie but his mind couldn't help focusing back at Deceit again. The liar was completely out of it and laying on Roman's shoulder without a care in the world. Roman didn't even know he slept. He'd just assumed it put Deceit into too vulnerable of a position.

He tried to focus on the movie but felt that same feeling of warmth and something else intensify. He really didn't know what it was. Was he nervous? Yes! Why? Roman only wished that patton could've explained it all away. He would understand.

He felt Deceit stir a little but all he did was nuzzle further into Roman's neck. Roman looked over to him. *I love you.*

Roman nearly jumped. *I...LOVE you?*  
How had he not noticed? He had had so many crushes before! There were so many signs! Roman felt his breathing quicken and tried to push it down. *No! I can't be..I'm just being confused- it's- I can't like him!* He looked back at Deceit again and nearly squealed. He was waay too close. Especially now that Roman was freaking out. * What if he notices? Is he going to stop coming to rehearsals? What if he stops trusting anyone at all? * Monte Cristo had reached its dramatic finale, but Roman could hardly hear it. * What if..what if he- No. He couldn't. But..* Roman felt his face grow warmer. *What if he likes me too?*

The ending was very quiet, which made Deceit wake up slowly. He leaned off of Roman and looked up at the screen.  
"Oh..sorry-must have slept through a bi-"

"Dee."

Deceit looked over to Roman, who's voice got quieter and more serious.

"I-umm."

Roman was blushing, Deceit now realised. It looked nice on him for some reason.

"I love you."

Deceit legitimately couldn't understand what he said.

"Huh?"

"I-uhh-really like you."

Deceit felt his own face warm up and tried to process the words one by one. *Like? ME?* He stared at him, dumbfounded.

Roman scrambled to abort mission.  
"You don't- I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you! I'm just throwing it out there! You know, -uh, things don't have to change or anything it's just..."

"I love you too."

It took Deceit a while to recover from emotions before he managed to translate what he wanted to say into a non-lie. That's part of the reason he didn't like emotions very much. Roman's face lit up immediately and he smiled, about to say something but not knowing what to say. Deceit didn't know what to do, either, although he had a strong urge for...something.  
Roman was waaay to close, and warm, and-

"Can I kiss you?"

Ah. That. Deceit scrambled to remember words again. *HELL YEAGH.*

**"No."**

Roman looked surprised but quickly started to lean back.

"WAIT- I mean **no**! I MEAN- **not** yes! YES! NOT THAT- the other-yes??"

Roman smiled and laughed without meaning to, causing the other side to start laughing to.

"You know what I mean, right??!" Deceit gestured wildly.

Roman pointed to his own mouth and tried to articulate.  
"Hey. All I know is that I want a kiss."  
He paused.  
"Un-unless you don't want to, though-"

He was caught off by the distance between them closing quickly and a feeling of nothing but warmth and closeness. It felt like it lasted a nanosecond with how quickly time seemed to pass. Deceit smelled of books and licorice, which was definitely not what princey expected.

They separated but stayed close, not wanting to lose the warm energy that seemed to fill their space. Roman leaned forward again and kissed the other side, who responded by throwing his arms over Roman's shoulders and melting into him. Roman cupped a hand around his face before moving it to his hair. Deceit let out a quiet whimper and pulled Roman closer, which wasn't possible, but he could try.

They stayed like that for as long as they could before separating to catch their breaths. Deceit lay back on the couch, overwhelmed.  
"Wow."

Roman leaned forward.  
"Yeagh."

They lay together for a long while, keeping really close and enjoying the warm peaceful silence that hung in the air.  
Roman trailed his hand through Deceits hair and Deceit nuzzled into Roman's neck, making the prince's face warm up again.  
Something bothered Deceit, though.  
"Sorry I lied.."

Roman looked over to him, confused.  
"About what, Dee?"

"The kissing thing.."

Roman frowned a little and tried to look at him but he didn't move from under Roman's chin.  
"Heey- I didn't mind that!" Roman tried to find the words. "I-I like you how you are-that means everything about you."  
He felt Deceit shift further in. "It's ok."

Deceit thought on that but didn't feel too much better.  
"I..I don't like lying so much."

Roman felt a pang of worry but tried to understand. "Why's that?"

Deceit shrugged softly and took another moment. "It's too much. I think."

Roman tried to think. "Well, if you want to do it less, that's possible, I think. Virgil toned down the anxiety bit by bit when he-" He trailed off, suddenly worried he'd said the wrong thing. *Why bring up Virgil? Why bring up the light sides? Deceit doesn't have to want to be like that. That's so stupid..*

Deceit didn't seem to be affected. He hummed. "Yeagh. Maybe.."  
He moved up to face Roman, which made Roman smile and made him jittery all at the same time.

Deceit paused, second guessing himself for a moment.  
"There's something else, too."  
He took a deep breathe out and a scar reapered on his shoulder, his shirt still ripped there, too.

Roman gasped worriedly. "It didn't heal yet?"

Large injuries, even fatal ones, usually left a small mark and disappeared within hours in the mindscape. They weren't _real_ after all, they were just there to teach sides a lesson and get them to interact civilly, although that's a pretty hard thing to do.

"No. They don't heal that quickly for me."

Deceit knew his healed slowly since forever, and theorized it had something to do with him being self-preservation. It really did teach him to be more cautious and self-sufficient, which were good skills to have handy when Thomas actually got hurt in the real world.

Roman placed a hand near the scar gently and couldn't keep from showing worry on his face. "And you can hide it?"

That threw Deceit off balance. It reminded him of something.. He shifted uncomfortably and pushed it down.

"Yeagh, I can hide anything." He winced a little when Roman touched around the wound, but didn't show it at all. "It's kind of my job." He added quickly.

Roman frowned and looked up. "It's been a few days. Maybe you should go back to Logan?"  
Deceit gave a heavy sigh, making Roman smile again.  
"Oh c'mon. Why don't you wanna go?"

Deceit hugged Roman closer, trying to not think about how inevitable going back there was going to be.  
"I don't liiiiike doctors."

Roman giggled, a little more at ease now.  
"If it makes you feel better, he's not a licensed doctor at all."  
Roman felt Deceit smile against him, which made him feel like squealing again.

"Hell, I bet he's barely at assistant level. Just think of him as a complete nerd with bandages."

Deceit giggled. "Definitely **didn't** think that before."

They fell asleep without noticing that the movies changed. The rest of the light sides were surprised when Roman appeared next morning in the kitchen, and Patton told him off for not showing up to family game night. Roman told him they'd make it up tomorrow, trying not to show how bubbly he was all day. Patton would catch on eventually, but Roman reasoned he'd just ask Dee for a convincing excuse. Deceit was good at that.


	3. Liar (It takes one to know one)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deceit listens to Roman and goes to the doctor. Big mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: -blood -scars -referenced self harm (no depictions of it actually being done) -abuse themes
> 
> The title is an awesome emo song title!! I've been waiting to use it since I started this!! This was kind of hard to write so I'm sorry if some things aren't very clear or descriptive. I hate blood and have pretty bad carpophobia. You may ask, why the hell am I writing this, then?? ummm...venting?

It was dark by the time Deceit got up from his books. He didn't feel tired, so he reckoned Remy didn't feel like doing his job yet. This was bad news. It meant Deceit had no other excuses to continue procrastinating. He wasn't used to this feeling. Normally, he just did whatever the hell he wanted in his room and no one could tell him anything. It was great not depending on anything (or anyone). But it was like a powerful and horrible force was watching over him now, yelling at him to "go!", "NOW!". He looked up from his book and stared dumbly at the dim yellow wall. It wasn't a powerful force. It was just his own stupid lizard brain telling him that Roman might be slightly dissapointed if Deceit didn't take his advice.

It didn't help, either, that the other dark sides hadn't bothered him all day. By this hour the absolute lunatics would've figured out some new way to cause havoc or destroy Thomas's emotional state for the day. It felt eerily quiet without them around. A quiet Deceit wanted to last, but knew wouldn't. He just hoped he wouldn't have to deal with them on the way back to his room. They got bolder and more impatient when Remy didn't appear.

He looked around the floor in slight disgust but decided that since he could still walk through the piles of papers, his room was clean enough. He took the hat off the couch once it was finally found it and gave an exhausted sigh at the world. He swung his cape dramatically and once it produced a satisfying enough _swoosh_ he disappeared.

*Finished.* The logical side picked the papers up and tossed them sensibly into a tray. As the only thing keeping the mind together, Logan understandably needed to keep his skills sharp. What that meant today was researching every possible way a person could get killed by a crab. Virgil led him to this idea at 3am last morning, when he was showing Logan news article after article on how easy such a feat could happen to Thomas. Logan was intrigued by this new information and decided to sporadically perform a deep dive into every resource he could find.

On one hand, Logan realized that the information would be completely statistically irrelevant to Thomas. On the other hand, it was cool. He assured himself that he _wasn't_ wasting time. 

There was a slow knock on the door.   
Logan shot up and walked over. It didn't sound like Patton. His knocks were usually loud and excited.   
Logan opened the door and stared down the visitor.

"Good evening, Logan."

Logan gave a curt nod.  
"Deceit."

"Roman told me to come here."   
Deceit blurted out. He just *needed* to say that, before Logan even for a second assumed he actually wanted to be there. It was childish, but Deceit really couldn't care less right now. He was getting more and more drowsy as the night went by, and the brightness of Logan's room annoyed him to no end.

"For..The injury?"

" **No**."

Logan led the side in. After what he assumed was an unpleasant encounter last time, he never would've expected Deceit to come back. Roman must've made a very convincing case for it. Logan let himself feel slightly proud for Roman's responsibility about the situation. He used to be a lot less selfless.

Deceit looked tired, which wasn't something Logan got to see often. He assumed, logically, that the snake was tired occasionally, just like anyone else, but it still surprised him when he saw things like that. Dee was ridiculously good at covering it up.*But what's the logic in hiding emotions? *

Deceit sat down, took off his cape and let a scar reappear. It was a weird feeling, letting things repeare. It felt like a weight being lifted off. He didn't like it.

"It hasn't healed?" Logan asked neutrally.

"What doess it _look_ like?" Deceit winced at that inside. He hadn't meant to be rude. *Welll...* He never means _not_ to be rude. Societal norms and pleasantries are a harmful construct, after all. But this time it felt wrong to not put up a front. Logan didn't seem to react.

The logical side raised an eyebrow and looked confused at the scar. He took gauze off the table and reached out with it, a little cautiously. Deceit sighed and took off his plaid shirt. 

"I was going to say that you can do it yourself if you need to."

"It's fine."

Logan felt slight relief and started wrapping the wound. He was cautious about doing anything to spike the other sides discomfort again. It was clear before that he didn't trust Logan with help, although apparently that's changed now.

Then he noticed something.  
"What's that?"

*SHIT* Deceit looked down and pushed a wave of panic far, far away.  
"I fell down.."

Logan looked back at him, distressed.  
"On several sharp spikes?"

Keeping calm and confident was the first step to a convincing lie. Everybody knew that.

"Yesss.."

Logan finished bandaging the first arm wound and examined the other..three?  
"These haven't healed either. How long ago was this?" Logan went back for more supplies.

Why the hell weren't they hidden? Deceit always assumed all of the wounds were hidden all the time. Apparently it was hard to gauge which ones were still showing under clothes. There was no point in trying to hide these ones now. Deceit just focused on maintaining the rest of his appearance.

"Not long ago. It was in the mind palace. Lots of thorns and things of that nature. Honestly, I can't even feel them." He could. "It'sss fine."

Logan turned around and looked at him doubtfully. "I'll just disinfect and wrap them. It won't be too long."

*Liar.*  
Deceit shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Of course. It made sense. There wasn't any way he could possibly have enough energy to suppress everything _all_ the time.  
*Weak.*  
It was way too cold. And bright. And he was tired. He debated vanishing for a moment before deciding to stay instead for no reason at all.

Logan held Deceits arm up for a moment, a strange confused expression passing on his face. Deceit felt panic go up again. For an emotionless side, Logan sure did have a lot of infuriatingly unreadable expressions.

"That's..strange. I don't recall Roman liking thorns in his garden."

Deceit shrugged nonchalantly.  
"New addition."

Deceit forgot that they hurt. They always _hurt_ , it was just that seeing them somehow made it more real. Yet another reason to leave *RIGHT NOW.*

"I suspected that your wounds wouldn't heal like the other sides. It must be a relatively negative experience."

*God. Why the hell is he still talking?* Deceit tried to stop being annoyed at Logan for a bit. He wasn't really annoyed with him at all. He just didn't feel like talking right now.

"It's fine. I don't get hurt much."  
Deceit felt false pride swell up in him. Lying was fun.

"Mhm." Logan hummed.

*How the hell is he so hard to read?* Deceit stared him down. He always knew what someone's intentions were. How could _Logan_ be the one to break this trend?

"The other sides come in here a lot. They usually are not aware of consequences for their actions." The scars stung really badly under antibacterial liquid, and Deceit nearly showed a sign of pain. "Your self preservation must be highly effective. That's..admirable."

"Are you done yet?" Deceit nearly shrunk back at his own words. When did he get so loud? 

Logan looked up concerned for a moment but tried not to pay attention.  
"Im sorry. It'll be over soon. Does it still hurt?"

" **N** o."

Logan honestly couldn't tell if Deceit meant what he said or was saying "yes".  
"It..does?"

Deceit didn't know, either.  
"Ngk."

Logan took that as a yes and tried to finish the painful part as fast as he could. Deceit didn't seem bothered at all.

*SHIT SHIT AAAAAAAAAHHH FUCK MOTHER F-* It _buuurneeed_.

Logan turned around to fetch the gauze.

Deceit snapped his eyes shut and let out a deadly quiet hiss. *I need to leave. Now.*

Logan turned back around and walked up to bandage the rest of-  
"What's that?"  
He looked again. How did he not notice that before? There was another scar...* What? *

"IM LEAVING." Deceit grabbed his hat and nearly tumbled back.

"NO wait- Dee!" Logan grabbed his other arm where there didn't seem to be any injury.

Deceit let out a deafening hiss. 

"It's ok. You're ok. Im just gonna bandage the rest of the scars." Logan let go of his arm and looked at it in confusion. Something was wrong.

"I'm fine."  
Deceit wanted *so* badly to leave. Why wasn't he?? What's stopping him? Why was Logan's voice so comforting??

"Shh. It's ok. I'm not going to do anything. Could I just bandage these scars? Please?" Logan held out the gauze worriedly. 

Deceit cursed himself and he cursed all the sides and he cursed Logan and his stupid supplies and-  
"Ok."

Logan held his sigh of relief and cautiously started bandaging the rest of the arm. He couldn't stand being quiet but tried to stop himself from asking anything.  
"Your other arm. Is it injured?"  
Not asking was hard.

Deceit went quiet and tensed up more than he already was.   
"Why."

Logan kept his eyes on the gauze and got prepared for the other side to try to disappear again.  
"You hissed when I touched it."

Deceit felt something dangle at the top of his tongue. He hadn't realized how tired he was. Was it really that hard to lie?

"Yes."

Logan waited expectantly. Nothing happened.  
"Could I.."  
* See it? *   
The silence hung around. Logan had stopped himself mid-sentence. This wasn't working, and he could feel Deceits trust dangling like it was a fragile piece of string. He needed to try something else.

"I don't like being injured either."

That made the snake scoff.  
"Wow. How relatable."

"No." Logan rejumbled his thoughts and tried to lay it all out like he intended to.  
"I mean it. The vulnerability that comes with it. It makes you feel weak."

Deceit thought on it, but just for a moment. * Where is this going? *

"A long while ago, Virgil invited me to the imagination for a walk. We were going to find glitches in the forest."

Deceit felt a loving and sad feeling wash over him with Virgil's name. It came and went. 

"He proposed the idea. I thought it was interesting. If there was an infinite forest made through creativity, surely there would be some mistakes and oversights in the layout? Like parts of a video game that aren't fully rendered."

* Nerd. * Deceit felt the antibiotic on his skin again.

"While we were walking, I found this animal." Logan bunched his eyebrows together. "It had a furry, feathery texture and odd barnacle appendages growing out of its side. I was fascinated. I got closer." The story blocked out the pain, a bit. "I got waaay too close." Logan looked..mad? "It turned around and, using the logical principles under which the imaginary creatures function, it attacked." He paused. "Obviously, it attacked. It was backed into a corner. I ignored all conduct rules with wild animals. It was such an illogical urge I doubt even Roman would repeat it." Deceit snickered a bit at that.  
"I can't hide wounds like you can."  
Deceit stopped snickering and stared into the floor.  
"I had to tell Virgil. We got back and I got to rest. Everyone was worried, which is only logical. I don't like being the center of attention. I don't like the others meddling in things I can solve on my own." Deceit was surprised at this. He imagined it wasn't- "It is not logical. To not let them be worried over me. To not tell them and allow myself to be cared for sometimes." Logan finished bandaging the silent snakes arm. "Even if I feel like I'm weak for doing so."

That was exhilarating. Logan had tried to seem composed and matter of fact as he was talking, but on the inside he was squealing. He'd never actually talked about that to anyone after it happened, and especially not about the gross _feelings_ associated with it. He'd managed to bury it deep in his memory somehow. It was strange now, and he felt a little embarrassed at talking so much.

Deceit stared into the floor. It wasn't particularly interesting, but way more enticing than anything else at the moment. Logan had finished bandaging everything. There was no point in staying.

"Um."  
It was a short and concise "um". 

"Logan?"

Logan tried to look at Deceit but Deceit wasn't looking at _him_.

"Promise not to freak out again..."

*Oh no.* "I can't promise that." 

"Fine."   
Then it was all uncovered.   
Deceit did _not_ look good in blood. There might've been some who looked badass in blood. (Virgil had shown Logan many music videos. Many of them involved very emotional lyrics and what Virgil had called a "vampire-esc aesthetic". Logan was confused, but tried hard to understand.)  
But on Deceit it looked plain _wrong_. Deceit was a suave villian-like actor. He wouldn't let himself get hurt. He got out in the nick of time and fooled danger with a craftily planted punch-line.

He looked like a homicide victim.

"HOLY SHIT." Logan stared at him, dumbfounded.

Deceit reeled back from that and looked up at Logan, confused. He knew Logan wouldn't like it, especially with his weird "health" obsession, but why was he yelling?

"DECEIT? How did-"  
Logan didn't know what to do. How was he supposed to treat him? How did that happen? How in the name of all that is logical and illogical did he manage to hide _that_?

Deceit looked down at his palm just because it was slimy and gross. He scrunched his face. There was still blood flowing from his palm from a knife slash. He hadn't realized the hiding also paused the bleeding. He also didn't remember when he even got that scar.

The most striking thing was a blackeye under his non-snake eye and a red slash going around his neck. There were scars, but also weird burns and scrapes going along his torso. He didn't remember getting half of them, which was beyond unsettling. 

"Who did it?"

Deceit snapped back to Logan's face. "Wha-?"

"They are all recent. You couldn't have possibly injured yourself this badly if you wanted to."

Deceit tried to stare him into intimidation. This is why he didn't want to uncover things.

"Was it one of the light sides?"

"What? No!"

"So it was one of the dark sides?"

"NO!"

Logan took a deep breath in and took small steps to the right and left, trying to calm down. This wasn't logical now.  
He felt a sudden urge to cry, and pushed that down out of guilt.

"So, is it that you have done it?"  
Logan tried to look as neutral as possible. Deceit winced at seeing him sad.

"No."

Logan picked up Deceits arm gently, which seemed to calm him, which was good. He leveled his voice and only let it come out very quietly.   
"What are these?"

There were small scars running up his arm above the elbow. They were easy to miss among everything else.

Deceit flinched and snapped back, panicked. 

"That wasn't me! Remus thought-"  
His hands snapped to cover his mouth. He didn't know that could happen.

"Remus?" Logan didn't try to hide the worry. It took too much energy to hide.   
Deceit felt waves anger well up inside him. 

"You wouldn't get it."

"What?" Logan looked at him hopeless and confused. Deceit hated his face so much.

"You wouldn't." Deceit clarified. It was a fact.

Logan had the stare of a broken puppy. Why was he like this?? *Just get angry at me!*  
Deceit caved in quickly.

"Remus. Intrusive thought. Does the thing were he acts on Thomas's 'darkest' thoughts. You know him?"

Logan looked more and more broken. It wasn't helping.

"Well, Thomas was watching a lot of mental health videos-"

"A few days ago.." Logan looked intently like he was solving a puzzle.

"Saw some self-harm mentioned- wouldn't let it go for a loong time. So-"  
He held his arm up half-heartedly.   
"Yeah."

There was a painful pause. "But...But why are the scars on _you_?"

Deceit huffed. "Remus thought it was exciting. Made jokes about me cutting. You know, dark aesthetic, gloves?"

Logan looked utterly confused.

"He would've joked about that at Anxiety if he was still around." Deceit didn't know what compelled him to say that. "It's the same thing. Nothing more to it."

Logan thought on it for a moment or two.  
"But Virgil's scars would've healed instantly."

Deceit raised an eyebrow. "Yes...So?"

"Remus's actions are not a mere inconvenience to you."

"Yes they are!" Deceit didn't even now what he was arguing about.

"His actions have a real life impact on you and your physical state. And he doesn't even know it."

Deceit felt anger rise again.  
"Good."

He could literally see Logan's face fall.  
"No! Why would you hide that? _Who_ does it benefit?"

"You.Wouldn't.Get.It." It was easy being angry when everything hurt. "Remus is Remus. He does things like this. It makes sense you wouldn't like it. You're a light side."

How did Logan even feel sad? How could a logical sides face be so hurt? Deceit wanted to cry.

"You just want us _aalll_ to be well-meaning and non-problematic. We can't!" Deceit winced at himself more than Logan did. "This happens! I can't tell Remus to not be himself. That might be something that _you_ would do. But we don't. I'm a dark side. I can take it."

Deceit spared a glance at Logan and he looked tired. *Just get angry at me too! What's wrong with you!?*

"That's not the way it has to be."

"Yes it is."

"Deceit. You are being illogical. If you just _talked_ with him, or with me, or with Roman."

Deceit realized the pain of talking to him was outweighing his physical pain. He took his hat and shirt sneakily, like he was supposed to, and then he left.

His skin was still gross from blood and he felt like he was on the verge of unconsciousness. But that was fine. The snake stood in his room and reveled in it's dimness and cozy hiddenness. He covered up the annoying blood and put on a shirt. Why did he stay for so long? He shouldn't have gone. But that was to worry about later, when he didn't feel like he was quite literally dying.


	4. Down time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sides hang out. Deceit needs help (again) and hes getting tired of having to ask for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooof- its been a while  
> The story changed a bit because im bad at plot... there is a lot of swearing in this one!!   
> Also one small snipet about a sheep involving gore; it starts at "Remus laughed" and ends at "Real".

"Get down from there."

"Make me, discount kaa."

"Ooooh! Bitch just dragged you, you gonna take that, snake?"

Deceit blinked in sleeps general direction and took a breath.

"Remy. **D** **on't** shut the fuck up."

Remus took the microwave and let it drop from above the door frame where he was sitting. It launched into the floor with a satisfying crash. It wasn't nearly broken enough, though. Remus dropped an on fire match and let his feet dangle merrily as he watched the warm red flames rise up and glow.

Anger also watched the flames go up from his place on the couch. Fire always comforted him. He was gripping a piece of metal he stole from the imagination, and was debating between launching it at someone or bending it. Bending wasn't fun.

Deceit ducked from the metal and was silently grateful at anger for snapping him out of his daze. The fire was ridiculously mesmerizing.

"Listen, we **haven't** got little time before the other 'dark' sides show up and we **do** have a gameplan. Who's talking to Thomas today?"

Although Deceit didn't want to admit it, talking normally again was a little relieving. He didn't have to try to talk honestly with the dark sides.

"Mee!!!"

Remus fell into the fire and laughed.

"What are you going to **not** do?"

Deceit backed away from the fire casually, like slowly spreading fire wasn't anything more than a slight discomfort. It shouldn't be.

Remus raised an eyebrow and gave a hearty chuckle. "I just want to show him what he's missing! I got so many beautiful ideas for videos, you wouldn't believe it! So, imagine this- the camera blacks out, an impaled sheep is center stage and-"

Deceit folded his arms and sighed.

"I'd **love** to hear more."

Remy looked up from his phone and frowned at Deceit. "Who died and made you queen of good ideas?"

"BITCH." Anger dug his claws into the couch and smiled at finally getting to yell at someone.

"I Just **do** really want to imagine that." Deceit debated leaving for the third time these few minutes. He didn't. He had a point he needed to get across and a reputation to uphold. He also might or might not have felt a small inkling of guilt at disliking Remus's idea.

Remus laughed and put up his hands merrily. A ram appeared, impaled on a sharp wooden stake. It was bleeding severely, and let out several blood curdling imaginary bellows. Its fur was dirty and ragged, but it looked so really _real_.. Deceit shuddered briefly but stood his ground, putting on an exasperated expression. The trick was not reacting to the suddenness of it, everything else could be blocked out.

"Do ya _liike_ it, snakey??" Remus sung.

Anger snapped up and started laughing too, a rare occurence. He held out his palm. 

"GIVE ME SOMETHING TO THROW AT IT!"

Anger and Remus made a great team. Remus loved making things for him, and the things calmed anger down, or else they let him get angrier; it depended on the day.

A pair of switchblades appeared in Anger's hands. He smirked.

Deceit had tried to get them into this habit of saying who was going to go to Thomas that day. So far, noone had followed through with their promise and opted out to come out whenever they wanted. It was all a ploy, either way. Deceit had set it up so that they would speak, at least briefly, about what they were going to do that day. It saved him a lot of worry and energy, making his job of containing them easier. They didn't know about this, obviously, and neither did they know that he was trying to contain them. He didn't really want to think about what would become of Thomas's mental state if he didn't try to keep them from wreaking _complete_ chaos every day.

~~

"Pumpkin?"

"Noope!"

"Cabbage?"

"Logan! _How_ is that a cookie flavor?"

Roman chuckled. He was sitting, nay, _lounging_ over an arm chair.

"Guess again, loggy berry!"

Patton's voice was especially sing songy today. Roman was back and the whole family was finally together again. He'd missed him last movie night.

"Patton, I really do not know this flavor." Logan contemplated the cookie thoughtfully for a moment. 

"It's oatmeal!"

Virgil raised his head slightly from his safe position upside down on the couch.

"Logan, can you really not tell?"

Logan frowned very slightly. 

"I'm not sure. Flavors are not my greatest strength."

Patton handed him another cookie and smiled comfortingly. "That's alright, Logan. Flavors must not be _your...torte.."_

Virgil smiled at the pun.

"You'll get it right someday..hopefully.." 

He said in a hushed, raspy voice. 

"Virgil! Stop being foreboding over cookies." Roman flung a cushion at him and gave an amused gasp when Virgil caught it upside down like some sort of acrobatic bat.

"But how do you _know_ that cookie isn't pumpkin? What if...it's tricking you?!"

Virgil flung the pillow back at Roman, who gave a dramatic oof on impact and threw it back. It hit Virgil in the face and he let out a quiet giggle. Roman smiled victoriously.

"Boys, boys! It's movie time!"

Patton handed the basically useless remote to Logan. Roman looked over excitedly.

Logan seemed distracted, and took the remote, slightly disheveled.

"Oh-oh yeah, ok."

Patton looked over a little worriedly.

"You alright?"

Logan nodded, giving a short glance to Roman before fiddling with the remote.

Roman looked at him, confused, before looking back at the screen where "Atlantis" was playing. He had noticed Logan being distracted yesterday, and wondered a bit at what was bothering him before the story melted his worries.

~~

A switchblade flew close by Remy and he gave an exhausted sigh.

"You did that on purpose, you dick!!"

Anger smirked again. He was in a good mood today.

"YEAH. I DID. WHACH'YA GONNA DO ABOUT IT?"

Remy starred as menacingly as he could from behind his shades. 

"Not in the mood, dipshit."

Anger threw another blade and huffed, genuinely frustrated now.

"Oh, do go off." Remy chuckled fakely.

Anger felt something deep and painful tug at him, and he always said what was on his mind.

"I FUCKING HATE YOU. YOU THINK YOUR BETTER THAN US, DON'T YOU?" 

"Yeah, and what of it?" Remy snapped back quickly without looking up from his phone.

Deceit huffed in annoyance and got up from where he was sitting. He'd gotten all the information he needed, and was really getting tired of the escalating amount of switchblades.

"Snakkeeey! Where ya going?"

Remus looked up from making a small tower of rat poison.

"I'm **staying**."

Deceit smiled sweetly.

"Going to fuck around with the light sides, I bet." Remy didn't look up from his phone.

Deceit stood in shock for less than a millisecond before putting on a smirk.

"Wou-"

"GOING TO _FUCK_ THE LIGHT SIDES!"

Remus yelled happily, as he found a way to twist things in a funner light.

Deceit stared at him in frustration and dread. "Shut up."

Remus laughed maniacally and pointed at him. "Look! Hickeys!"

Deceit felt a sharp pain on his neck and hissed. "Fucking _really_?"

Remy looked up slightly and chuckled. "Oh, lighten up, scales."

"TIE 'EM UP NEXT TIME. DON'T LET THEM BIGHT!" Anger jumped up.

Remus held up a bundle of rope and apparated behind Deceit in a puff of grey smoke. "I can show you _hooow_! Wanna _tryyy_ it?"

"Touch me and I'll bite your face off."

Deceit stepped forwards and focused to leave.

Remus grabbed his arm and wiggled his eyebrows. "Oooh _hot_!"

Deceit kicked him in the shins and snapped his arm away. He almost left before falling backwards as Remus leaped at him with all his weight. Remus pushed his hands down and tied the rope around them more quickly than should be humanly possible. They struggled for a moment or two more before Deceit jabbed Remus in the face with his knee, hard, and got up quickly. Remus held his face in pain but laughed nonetheless.

Deceit gave a final deafening hiss and left.

~~

"That was the lion king, wasn't it?"

"Oh, was it?"

Roman tilted his head up. "Logan, which movie is the one based off of Hamlet?"

Logan thought on it for a second or two. "Yes. I think you are talking about The Lion King. Many thematic elements, plot-"

"Shhh" Patton shushed them. He pointed at Virgil. 

Virgil had abandoned his upside down position after Logan had told him it was probably the cause of his headache. They'd argued for a while, but now he was laying down normally, curled in on himself, fast asleep.

"Aaaw..." Roman cooed jokingly. "Good night, sweet prince."

Patton smiled besides himself.

The second movie was almost at an end, and if he were being honest, Roman wouldn't mind falling asleep either. The swirling colors and songs soothed him.

~~

Deceit pushed at a random part of the rope against a chair corner again, but there was no change. He held up his arms and stared, hopelessly, as if his angry stare will burn a hole through the rope. This...had turned into a difficult situation.

Deceit had tried just untying it with his hands, but the way the knot was tied made it near impossible to understand how to do it. Also, he couldn't really _use_ his hands much. 

He'd tried to rip it with something, but it was tightly bound and thick as hell. The most hed achieved with that was scratching himself on accident.

The first thing he did, though, was try to turn into a snake. He did achieve this feat, and almost felt victory when there wasn't a rope anywhere near him. When he turned back into this form, though, the rope was back around his hands. What that told him was that if he didn't get these off, he would have to live the rest of his life as a snake. Which didn't sound that bad when he thought about it, but sadly such a life entailed many unique problems.

He wasn't above considering it, though.

Deceit sat down in defeat and hissed at noone. He had been trying for almost twenty whole minutes. At this point, it was more ridiculous than funny, if it was even ever funny in the first place. Remus could be extremely annoying sometimes, (and maybe _sometimes_ scarily so..) but Deceit could usually just forget about whatever happened outside after he got back to his room. Pain was very easy to not think about when he was alone. Now, he couldn't even enjoy the quiet and stability in peace.

He tried to think up something else. *There must be a sword or something around here?* The theatre will have a few. He didn't know where they were kept, though. 

He sighed.

Roman would know. *Wait..ROMAN!*

He _could_ just go ask for help. The idea didn't sit right with him at all, but if he were being honest part of him just wanted an excuse to see the creative side again. They hadn't talked properly in two whole days.

Deceit got up. The only problem now, was sneaking through the light side hallway.

~~

Logan had been staring at the dark screen for a while now. The others were fast asleep, and it was logical for him to get up now, since he was not supposed to fall asleep at this time of day, and his interaction with the others had come to an end. Still, he had too many things to think about to get up. Thomas's schedule, his slightly deteriorating mental state, the climate crisis, Patton's cookies, and... Well, it wouldn't be logical to not admit that he was still 'shaken up' from yesterday. He was trying to understand and analyze Deceits motivations and actions. It was hard. Normally, he talked out things like this with Patton, since the side was amazingly good at that type of stuff. Logan just didn't get it. Why did Deceit leave? Did Logan do something wrong? He probably did. 

Logan shook himself of that, noticing that he was falling into thinking traps. 

But then again, why-

Logan turned and gaped at the other, who stood in the doorway. Deceit seemed equally as shocked. They stared at each other for a solid two seconds before Deceit smiled coily and started speed walking away.

"Wait-wha?" Logan got up, panicking at Virgil stirring for a moment before he settled back. The logical side speed walked out of the room, trying not to make much noise but failing. Why was Deceit here? Did something happen?

He caught sight of Deceits cape around a bend and ran up, stopping him in his tracks.

Deceit faced Logan casually, like he was just stopped from a nice walk. 

"Umm..Hello."

Logan noticed that his hands were tied and it did not aid in his confusion one bit.

"Wha-how-" He paused. "Hello Deceit. What is your purpose in coming here?" He felt calmer at finally pronouncing a logical question.

Deceit looked around his shoulder calmly and observed something unimportant. 

"Oh. You know. Just in the neighborhood."

Logan stared at him doubtfully. "Why are you tied up?"

Deceit held up his hands slightly and dismissed it with a soulless chuckle. "Heh. Just-uhh happens sometimes, you know?" 

Logan narrowed his eyes.

Deceit sighed, realizing he did owe Logan _some_ explanation before the other accused him of scheming.

"Ok, Logan, look, I was just here to find Roman, but it looks like he's busy, so I'll check in later, all right?"

Logan checked Deceits face almost subconsciously, seeing if the other side forgot to cover up something Logan can use to justify treating the wounds he knew Deceit had.

Deceit gave him a death stare that told him to stop.

"Would you prefer not having a rope tied around your hands?"

Logan gestured to it in a propositionary tone.

Deceit looked at him with mock thoughtfulness, taking a few moments to really consider the question. He sighed. 

"Fine. Can you help?"

Logan nodded.

"Just- If you ask any questions about it again im **not** leaving."

Logan nodded again, trying his hardest not to show how frustrated and worried that made him feel.

~~

Ok, so his plan backfired. He admitted it was silly to expect everything to go smoothly once he found his way into the light place, but hey, it could have gone worse. At least it was Logan who saw him and not one of the others. As much as Deceit was nervous about Logan bringing up anything again, he was still the calmest person Deceit knew. He was also, admittedly, the easiest to talk to about things like this. (Not that he needed to talk about anything. He was fine.)

Now that he thought about it, explaining his situation to Roman would've been hard, too. The prince was too noble and sweet for his own good. There's no way he would've not considered this a call to arms against whoever _dared_ hurt Dee, and then, well...

It would be a mess.

Deceit realized how stable his trail of thought had become. Logan was trying to find scissors and Deceit was left to wallow near the entrance of the room. He could feel it affecting his thoughts; leveling them out. It annoyed him. Logical thinking wasn't _always_ a good thing. It was too cold and detached, too black and white. Things were never like that in reality. People weren't, either...

"Ah."

Deceit looked over in the other's direction.

"I have found my pair of giant heavy duty scissors." Logan walked over, examining them.

Deceit stifled an amused laugh. "Not at _all_ a weird thing to own."

Logan looked up, confused. "I use them to cut large stacks of paper."

Deceit lifted an eyebrow but decided not to ask.

The rope cut relatively easily for all the trouble Deceit had spent trying to get it off. He rubbed his arms and started to walk off. 

"Thank you." He turned. "This was a one time sort of thing. Don't worry, I won't be disturbing your peace anymore."

Logan waved his hand dismissively. "Illogical. I am never in a state of peace. Now, Remus did that, right?"

Deceit crossed his arms and scowled. "You said you wouldn't ask!"

Logan sighed, annoyed. "But I'm not! It's- I need the information to form a conclusion!"

"That's _why_ people ask questions, Logan." 

"Please?" Logan was on the verge of whining. He hated not knowing something more than he hated not being taken seriously.

"Whatever you think is true right now is the truth." Deceit shrugged.

Logan stopped and stared at him blankly. He looked completely lost. "That. That is." Deceit was afraid he overloaded his brain capacity or something. "That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard."

Deceit shrugged and swished his cape before disappearing. He barely saw Logan open his mouth to stop him.


End file.
